The NCAA Tournament must have four top seeds to function, but Saturday’s action damaged resumes of some high-profile candidates.

No. 4 Duke (27-4) and No. 6 Purdue (25-6) both took backward steps, the Blue Devils by losing the ACC regular-season title to North Carolina and the Boilermakers by ceding the Big Ten title to Ohio State in an upset at rebuilding Iowa.

Those results put Notre Dame (25-5) in position to perhaps grab a second No. 1 seed for the Big East. League champion Pittsburgh already seemed in solid shape along with the Buckeyes and Kansas.

“I think we’re in a pretty good spot, but we need to go play,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, whose team opens in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals Thursday. “Generally, if you win the best league in the country, that puts you in a pretty good position.”

The tumult of one of the busiest and most eventful days of the college basketball season started at the top, but it continued all the way to the edge of the at-large bubble:

How to seed Belmont? The Bruins sped to their 30th victory in the Atlantic Sun final against North Florida, 87-46. Traditionally teams that arrived on Selection Sunday with 30 wins were seeded No. 1 or No. 2, but the committee gave Murray State a No. 13 last year—and the Racers upset No. 4 seed Vanderbilt. Did the NCAA selection committee learn a lesson about respecting excellence?

Did the bubble burst? Marquette’s one-sided loss at Seton Hall left the Golden Eagles at 18-13. Only six teams gained at-large bids with 14 losses. The last, Georgia 2001, had 14 top-100 wins. Marquette is 7-12 against the top 100. After losing Saturday night to Texas, Baylor (18-12) is 5-9 against the top 100.

It’s a one-win season. Seems nearly everybody on the bubble has their own media rep declaring a single late victory puts that team in the field: Alabama, Michigan, Clemson. Is it possible their Saturday victories closed their cases? Sure. Let’s not forget 2007, though, when the Syracuse Orange beat Georgetown in late February.

“Everybody had us in,” coach Jim Boeheim said—after the committee left them out.